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TAIL OF
THE DOG
Bleak Houses

he Johannesburg Heritage the upper floor, and terraced gardens house refer to the Italian inspiration.
Foundation recently offered two down the north slope of the ridge. A grand house, with grand views and
Ttours of ‘The Ruins of Rose Road’. This was built by Mr HJ Van der Bijl, gardens, ti was lived in by his wife
The second tour – revived by a leading engineer and industrialist for one year before she died, but
demand – was held on a bleak cold of great importance in South Africa the owner lived on there for another
winter afternoon – of a suitably at the time, who was responsible for twenty years.
bleak set of houses set on the west the founding of Eskom and Iscor. He
end of the ridge above Rose Road, built this house for his first wife, and We had to go down the drive and
Houghton, opposite the playing fields she lived there for many years. He up the next one to Number 7, built
of St John’s School. built another house at the east end of in 1939 in a Modernist Bauhaus
Rose Road for himself and his second style, with rounded walls and ship-
The first houses built on Rose wife. We then crossed through to like shapes, quite austere but
Road faced south, in true colonial the neighbouring property Number interesting. Back down the road,
architectural tradition of presuming 3, a square face brick house built by we were told that all these house
the sun went round to the south, as Mr Proudfoot, a Scottish engineer. have been bought by a company,
it did in England, Scotland, Ireland. The site was splendid, the house and noted the good security. The
The properties on the north side prosaic, as one would expect from lower south side lawns and gardens
corrected this, and were built along an engineer. The terraced gardens were clean and neat, the houses all
the crest of the ridge – facing north, and this engineered driveway were unoccupied for over a decade, some
with spectacular views over the impressive. stripped of their window fittings
then highveld and mining forests and parquet flooring. There is little
of Saxonwold and Forest Town. Once again, we hiked across the information about what this group
To access these houses, there are garden wall to Number 5, a house of properties will become, so we
steep driveways from the road, built called Qui Si Sana, meaning here left, speculating wildly. None of the
with stone retaining walls, and in one one is healed, which was built in 1936 hoses are truly worth saving, but the
case, paved with concrete slabs. by the owner, who hoped his sick site overall is extraordinary.
wife would be cured by living here.
We started at Number 1, a doll’s This name comes from a health spa
house style, with dormer windows on in Capri, and the mosaics around the Gill Butler

VENUS

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Visitors

Tel: 011 434 0444,
Email:Shantelle@chairexpress.co.za
Factory / Warehouse / Showroom:
44 Hulbert Rd Cnr Rosettenville Rd,
New Centre, Johannesburg.
www.seatsahead.co.za